A very interesting study published in 2002 by Professor Anne Grete Byskov of the University Hospital of Copenhagen, suggests that non-smokers are more likely to conceive a boy.
A team of scientists investigated the smoking habits of the parents of just under 12,000 newborn babies for the last 3 months before the pregnancy was confirmed. They found that the proportion of boys to girls was highest when the parents were non smokers, and that the proportion of girls to boys was highest in the heaviest smoking group of the study.
They also found a clear increase in the probability of conceiving a girl as the level of cigarette consumption increased. What’s the reason for this? Well, the scientists hypothesised that Y-sperm, which contain the male chromosome, are more susceptible to the toxins in cigarette smoke. This is supported by the trend of fewer baby boys being born in many developed countries – where more of the population are smokers.
So – if you want to know how to conceive a boy – giving up smoking seems like a very good start.
